Hermione's cup
by maggiesmith93
Summary: Ron has a surprise for Hermione. As she waits, she remembers back to his last surprise for her.


Hermione's Cup

"...therefore, though lifted for the purpose of education; provided the supervision of a professor, and ministry official; apparation and dissapparation are prohibited on the grounds of Hogwarts, and within 100 yards of any entrance,"

SMASH.

She finally gave up and put the book down. Hermione had been trying to reread Hogwarts. A History in order to calm down and relax. But the constant banging in the kitchen had her rereading the same line three times over.

Ron had coax her to their room with a cup of tea, a huge grin on his face, and the promise that he had everything under control over an hour ago. Since then she had just become more and more anxious with every bang,crash, or curse word that made its way into the bedroom. Sitting on the bed with her empty cup and nagging curiosity, Hermione eyed her tiny bookshelf for another distraction. Unfortunately, the books she was most interested in reading were on the living room bookshelf, which was past the kitchen, to which she had been giving strict orders not to enter. She could try to sneak over to the study which was across the hall away from the kitchen. However, the only reason to do that would be to grab her work file on the case she was currently researching. Something told her that Ron wouldn't be too happy to find her with work spread out on the bed when he was finally ready to come get her.

"BLOODY HELL!"

"RON, are you sure everything is okay? I can help you if you need it?"

"NO,NO, everything's fine- great. Just enjoy your tea!"

Hermione looked down at her empty cup.

It reminded her of the first night her and Ron had spent in this tiny flat. It had only been 3 months ago. Hermione had finished up her 7th year at Hogwarts and was looking for a place close to the ministry before she started her job. Ron had just started renting the place so she had not had a chance to see it since the christmas holidays. He had been so excited to invite her over. She had kept saying how excited she was to see his place, looking back now, she saw the irony in his shrug whenever she would refer to it as such.

She had walked in the front door, which was painted white with a silver door knocker in the center. At the time, it had seemed a little odd. It didn't really seen to match Ron's style, although the only preference she had ever seen in Ron's choice in aesthetic was either gryffindor red or chudley cannons orange. There was an entrance way that had a few hooks for jackets, which seemed very thoughtful of Ron, she didn't expect him to think about where a guest would hang their outerwear. It was when she turned left, out of the little entrance alcove and into the living room that her mouth dropped.

There was a couch and loveseat place perpendicular to each other around a grey rug with black stitched thread through it. The coffee table in the center had a variety of white flowers in a vase and a wizards chess board which had a few moves into a game left unfinished. There was a bookshelf off to the corner where it didn't define the space but definitely made its presence known. It was ceiling high and only had a few books on the middle shelf. The loveseat faced toward a nook kitchen which had pans hanging from hooks on the wall. Not only was the display a surprise, but the face that Ron had pans to cook at all. She had been expecting a lot of leftovers from Mrs. Weasley to be on standby when he was hungry. The kitchen cabinets were a dark brown with black fixtures, and the tile was a brilliant white that flowed up into the backsplash. To the right of the kitchen there was a hallway its wasnt long or large. It had three doors. One directly across from the kitchen which was ajar. Hermione could see a sink, confirming this to be the bathroom. The second door was just a bit past the bathroom door, and the third was across from the second.

That seemed a little strange because there would be no need for Ron to have 2 bedrooms. He had told her he didn't plan on having Harry as a roommate when she had asked if he was going to look for someone to share the flat with. It could be a closet but both doors were a bit out of the way to be hallway storage. Hermione finished her self tour of the flat with surprising awe at Ron's thoughtful touches and style choices. She turned back around towards Ron, and he was looking at her quizingly, as thought he was trying to depict if she liked the place or not. She gave him a reassuring smile before saying that the place looked absolutely amazing and that she could not believe that he had done all of this on his own.

To that, Ron seemed to relax just a little, but then seemed to get lost in a thought before the serious look on his face returned. "Would you like a cup of tea?" "um, yea sure. That would be lovely." Hermione was just a little taken back. Obviously Ron was nervous. He was always a bit nervous when they got a moment alone together. And although it was sweet to see his a little jumpy at the thought of having her all to himself, this was the first time they had been alone together in months. They had seen each other on christmas holiday, but they were around family the whole time. And Ron had been allowed to visit the castle whenever he liked, but with Auror training and his family to look after, he didn't get to visit as much as hermione would have liked. This was the first time she was alone with ron with nowhere for either of them to be; no classes or training to get to, no parents walking in the room to tell them dinner is ready. No siblings to come barging in acting like they can't find the prototype for the shop that they "swear they loaned to Ron".

She had kind of expected ron to skip the tea and pull the "let me show you to my room" cliche. Not that they had not experienced that aspect of their relationship, but hermione wanted to do a bit more "research" and had hoped being alone with ron in his new space would provoke an interest in his "studies".

She went over and sat on the larger of the couches and stared at the bookshelf. Why would ron need such a huge shelf for books when he only has 5 on there right now. He enjoyed some books but they usually referred to quidditch history, or quidditch techniques. So a bookshelf of that size seemed like a waste of space for Ron.

He came over with the tea and placed it in front of hermione. There was only one cup. It was a pale blue with a vine design on the handle with tiny white specks all over."Did Fred and George give you this as a flat warming gift?" Ron was staring at the carpet and did not move his eyes as he begin to speak very quickly " That's your cup. If you want that to be your cup. It matches that place so I thought it should be here. Although I did design the place after I got the cup. The cup gave me the idea. Well no, ginny designed the place, but i picked the cup. But the cup because of the idea which you might think is really stupid and that's okay you don't have to say yes, but this place is really close to the ministry and I know that's what you're looking for, and everything else in this area is a mess and expensive. I'm not saying you can't afford it, but if we wanted to save up for a house in the future- hell, I got that bookshelf for you. Obviously you don't have to, i could use it if you don't want to. Im saying too much. Overthinking this…..Would you like to move in with me?" He spoke so fast Hermione wasn't quite sure what Ron had said completely, but she definitely heard the question at the end.

"Is that why the flat has two rooms Ron?"

"ohh um, yea if that's what you would want to do. But i had thought maybe that second room could be a study for you…"

Hermione was in disbelief. Ron had done all of this in the hope that she would want to live with him. He had no guarantee that she would say yes, but even so, he had done all of this with her in mind.

" ron, i would love to live with you!"

The grin that spread across Ron's face at the moment was captivating. He would later compare that moment to christmas morning and his birthday combined.

Over the next few hours Ron had given her a tour of the study which had a huge desk like the ones in the hogwarts library, and two windows so that the natural light could flow in during the day. Then he led her into the bedroom which caused a halt to the tour considering there was a huge bed in the center of this room. It had grey and white sheets. There was a night stand on each side, and off to the left of the bed, opposite of the door, was a lamp, chair and small book shelf with a couple drawers at the bottom which made hermione smile even more because Ron remembered that she loved reading at night and this would give her easy access to a few of her books.

They had a wonderful passionate night with each other, celebrating their new place. When hermione found herself in need of a drink, she made her way out to the kitchen to see her cup still sitting on the coffee table. She took it over to the sink to rinse out and prepare a new cup of tea. When she held it up to the light, she saw that there was an engraving on the bottom once the tea had been empty, 'HC'. At that moment ron came out wondering what was taking hermione so long. "How do you get my initials wrong after 8 years?" She made a little giggle because she was sure it wasn't intentional and didn't want him to think she was angry. "Oh that, no. It stands for Hermione's Cup"

Looking down at the cup Hermione could not help but smile. There was a little chip on the side, and the vines on the handle were a bit worn down from daily use. But over the past 3 months, one of her favorite things has been finishing a good cup of tea to see HC at the bottom of her cup.

She had been a bit nervous at the time to tell her parents that she would be moving him with her boyfriend. They had always supported her decisions but they were sure to be disappointed. Surprisingly, they had seemed okay with it. They told her to be smart and careful but that they trusted her judgment and knew she would not do anything she was not ready for.

BANG! "BLOODY FUCKING HELL!"

"RON, THAT'S IT I'M COMING OUT"

"WAIT, NO I JUST NEED 5 MORE MIN-"

Hermione came around the corner from the hallway and into the kitchen to find the most beautiful and romantic dinner setup she could ever imagine. there were candles all over on every possible surface, and some floating above the table. There were two plates for food on the table that smelled intoxicating even from this distance. There were white flowers on the table that looked very similar to the flowers ron had on the coffee table her first day there.

Ron was standing at the sink with a couple pots in his hands. His hair was a bit messy. He seemed to be a little out of breath, and he had a cut on his right hand. From the contents in the sink it looked that he cut himself on a knife while trying to clean up the kitchen. He was wearing a dress shirt and pants and he usually kept for dinners with Hermione' parents. And to the side of the sink he had his tie and a small black square. The room was dark so hermione could not make out what it was. But she kept her eyes on it long enough for Ron to notice. He looked from hermione to the item and back again. Then he started laughing.

Hermione was very confused on what he found funny. He had been making so much noise that she assumed he would be in a bad mood when he finally came to get her. But his laugh was so infectious that she started laughing a bit too. Soon they were both on the floor of their kitchen just laughing until their sides hurt. After a bit, they were able to calm down a little. Ron pulled hermione over to him and they sat there in each others arms.

Ron looked at hermione and surprised her with a very passionate kiss. Then then abruptly ended it and reached up to grab what hermione could now tell was a box. "I realize now that i was overthinking this. I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect. But as long as it's you and me, there's no way that it would not be perfect." Ron moved in front of hermione. And balanced himself on one knee. " I love you hermione, I have loved you for as long as i can remember. I cannot imagine being without you, and i truly believe you feel that same way." he took a deep breath and opened the box to show the most beautiful ring hermione could ever imagine

" YES, YES, YES RON! YES"

Ron couldn't help but laugh. "I haven't even asked yet."

" oh yes of course, go ahead"

" will you marry m-"

"YES!"

ron sat back down next to her as he pulled the ring out of the box. He placed it on her finger and she got a better look. The ring was simple and elegant. It was one diamond on a silver band. And it sat a little higher with a raised setting that crossed away from the ring and into the diamond.. It was the most beautiful ring she could ever imagine. She could burst with happiness.

"OMG I have to call and tell my mom!"

Ron once again laughed.

"what's funny about me wanting to tell my mom right away?"

"she already knows Hermione. I asked her and your father for their blessing."

Hermione tried to think back. She had spent all of her free time with ron over the last month. The last 3 months to be exact. They had gone to work together, come home together, went to family dinners together. The only time a part was when they were in the office. Maybe he had asked while at lunch, but he was always so busy that he would usually work straight through lunch.

" when did you have time to do that!"

"I asked the day before I asked you to move in with me. I doubt they would have been happy about us living together if i didn't plan to make this official"

Hermione couldn't believe it. Ron had been planning this for months and had gotten it past her.

"Where have you been hiding the ring?"

"In a cup, you only every use yours so it was the safest place"


End file.
